YLE: Yhä useampi rasistinen rikos tutkitaan

Comment: Here is an interesting question: Why don’t some immigrants report hate crimes to the authorities? The YLE story claims that one reason is the fear that justice will not be served.

If YLE and the police are to be believed, Finnish law enforcement officials have the proper training and the will to treat immigrants as equally as Finns. “In my opinion, our media functions effectively enough (in reporting hate crimes),” said Maila-Katriina Tuominen, a journalist. “It (the media) not only brings to light those problems that have to be addressed, but does investigative journalism, which is needed for these types of cases.”

Even though a nice picture is being painted of the police and Finnish media without interviewing one journalist with an immigrant background, I would treat the YLE story with tweezers.

Does Finland want to raise the credibility of the police among immigrants and non-white Finns? Then make the police more ethnically diverse. I personally would ask the police to let their hair grow a bit so that some wouldn’t give the appearance of being skinheads.

For some immigrants, their appearance is already an issue. Would you want to report a crime to a policeman who looks like a skinhead?

Another problem that immigrants have in reporting hate crimes is that it is simply too difficult of a process. Calling the police and reporting the crime can be a long and winding road.

Migrant Tales was told in May by a policeman Pieksämäki that it wasn’t worth getting in touch with the police if they are harassed in public. Contrarily, the Ombudsman for Minorities said that harassment should be reported the police.

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– Does Finland want to raise the credibility of the police among immigrants and non-white Finns? Then make the police more ethnically diverse.

If the immigrant/non-white Finn has the required skills and education for the work, then he/she can join the Finnish police force. But I don’t see that they should hire anyone JUST being an immigrant/non-white Finn.

– I personally would ask the police to let their hair grow a bit so that some wouldn’t give the appearance of being skinheads

I hope you are not serious about this and that is some kind of bad joke. You understand that any far right supporter could say same thing about not wanting Muslims to serve them in the grocery store, because they appearance of being a terrorist? Or not wanting to have a black bus drivers because they appearance of being a rapist?

All bald people are also skinheads? I thought the appearance shouldn’t matter when you have all the required skills for the work.

–But I don’t see that they should hire anyone JUST being an immigrant/non-white Finn.

Take a look at what has happened in Ireland, for example. Such policies (hiring people with immigrant backgrounds) have been highly successful. Alan Bruce said that “immigrant-aware policiign mae a huge difference to immigrants and to professional policing.”

— I personally would ask the police to let their hair grow a bit so that some wouldn’t give the appearance of being skinheads.

No matter what you think, looking like a skinhead doesn’t help your credibility.

Are you serious about your stereotypical description of Arab “terrorists?”

– No matter what you think, looking like a skinhead doesn’t help your credibility.

It is weird that you support freedom to express and people to look/dress as they want, but if someone wants to be a bald, then he is a skinhead? So, balding people, monks, soldiers and actors such as Vin Diesel are all skinheads as well?

– Are you serious about your stereotypical description of Arab “terrorists?”

I gave this an extreme example what some far right supports might say about people of certain look if they take your approach. How this is any different than you are saying?

Jaakko, take a real case that I heard happened in Turku. A group of Kurds were demonstrating and this attracted a bunch of Skinheads. The police was called but they looked pretty much like the Skinheads (muscular and bald). I have heard immigrants who have said that the police appearance scares them (big, muscular and bald).

– You forget that the police are public servants. That’s very different from being a private individual. As far as I know, the far right is a minority not a majority in Europe.

I believe it is quite hard to grow back your hair every morning…

And my point was that being a bald or shaving your head doesn’t mean that you are far right supporter/racist/neo-Nazi. Some people like being bald as much as some people like to have long hair. Currently I have longer hair than average men, but I would shave my head if I was starting to get bald some day.

I just don’t understand how can you be that superficial and judge people just by their hair cut? This is just what the people you protest against are doing (just change “bald” to “headscarf”) and you are following their lead?

Eh, it feels like I have heard this same sentence from far right camp 😛 if someone would say that he is “scared” of black people, you wouldn’t find it offensive/racist?

– The police was called but they looked pretty much like the Skinheads (muscular and bald). I have heard immigrants who have said that the police appearance scares them (big, muscular and bald).

Ok, let’s say that there is a non-white Finn in police force and then some non-white Finn commits a violent crime. With your logic this non-white Finn shouldn’t take the case because it scares the victims?

I like the way the police in Canada look. Some have turbans, some have “skinheads” and some have beards. Then again, Canada is a successful multicultural society. Our own police could go far with a friendlier less militaristic appearance.